The Financial Services Commission announces legislation of amendments to the Credit Finance Business Act
When canceled, pay only for what you wrote
In the future, if a subscription service provider such as Netflix and Melon switches to a service that was provided for free, consumers must be notified at least a week in advance. The procedure for canceling regular payments, which was complicated in the past, is changed as easily as the subscription procedure.
The Financial Services Commission announced on the 3rd that it would announce the legislative amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act from the 4th to the 15th of the following month. The Financial Services Commission plans to promote the revision after reviewing the Regulatory Reform Committee and the Legislative Office.
The subscription economy is a business in which a supplier provides a specific product or service when a consumer regularly pays a certain amount. The subscription economy provides services in a variety of industries such as digital content (Netflix, Melon, etc.) and regular delivery (Coupang, Gmarket, etc.). Recently, the subscription economy market is growing significantly due to the influence of Corona 19, but it has been pointed out that consumer protection is insufficient because there are many cases of switching paid services without separate guidance after attracting consumers through free and discount events.
According to the amendment, when a subscription economy service provider converts a service from free to paid, regardless of the event or not, at least one week prior to the time of conversion, the subscriber must notify the consumer of the relevant matters in writing or text. In addition, unlike the sign-up procedure, the cancellation procedure is made only possible during regular customer consultation hours, and it is obligatory to cancel it through a simple procedure on the mobile app and homepage.
Even if you cancel the periodic payment, you only have to bear the cost used in the future. Previously, even if you used the service even once, you had to pay for a month’s worth, and even the refund amount was returned as points without currency. In the future, even if there is a history of use when canceling a periodic payment, consumers will be guaranteed the right to choose a refund method (card payment cancellation, account transfer, etc.) even if there is a usage history.
Jeonghyun Kim reporter [email protected]
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